


Selective Hearing

by AmazonDjinn



Series: The Space Between [2]
Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Developing Relationship, F/M, Friendship, ME1, Terra Firma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-25
Updated: 2017-05-24
Packaged: 2018-11-04 16:07:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,187
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10994340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmazonDjinn/pseuds/AmazonDjinn
Summary: Cannon adjacent. Garrus gets a bit hot under the collar after an encounter with Charles Saracino of the Terra Firma party. He gains some insight by talking to Shepard; but it does nothing to curb his growing fascination with his Commander.





	1. Saracino

**Author's Note:**

> I've ignored the placement of the in-game encounter; opting instead for it to happen sometime after Shep gets a photo with Conrad Verner. I have rearranged the order in which Saracino’s lines appear, but I have made ZERO changes to his specific dialogue. Given the current state of politics around the world, I felt his words were bad enough without me adding to them.

"You don't find it odd the way he fawns over you, Shepard?" Kaidan asked as they made their way out of the upper markets. Things had been terse, at best, between Kaidan and Garrus since Feros; but Garrus actually agreed with him on this subject. Garrus didn’t like that Conrad guy and couldn't understand why the commander continued to be polite to the lunatic.

"He's harmless," she offered non-chalantly.

"I don't know, I kinda want to punch him," Kaidan mumbled.

"Or shoot him," Garrus chimed in.

"Et tu, Garrus?" Shepard chuckled. He had no idea what that meant but it made him smile all the same; something he’d found himself doing more often in her presence.

As they exited the markets and headed toward the lower-level C-Sec entrance, they were stopped by a protest. The humans were chanting something about Armistice Day. ‘This ought to be good,’ Garrus thought to himself.

"Commander Shepard, it is an honor to speak with you," the leader stepped up to shake her hand. "I'm Charles Saracino of the Terra Firma party. With Armistice Day coming up soon, we're making our voices heard by the alien appeasers on the Presidium. Can I count on your support in the next election?"

"Terra Firma?" Shepard took a step back. "From what I've heard of your party, it's filled with racist, anti-alien propaganda reminiscent of Cerberus."

Saracino nervously shifted his weight, "I assure you, I'm only interested in the betterment of humanity -- same as you, Commander. The war taught humanity a lesson that some would forget: if we don't stand up for ourselves, no one else will."

"If that's what you believe," the Commander began, squaring her shoulders and standing a little taller, "then I think you've missed the point entirely. 27 years ago, most of humanity believed we were alone in the galaxy. First Contact showed us that there's an entire galactic community out there which we are now a part of."

Saracino became defensive, "If aliens feel free to express their opinions at gunpoint, why shouldn't we?"

"You know what? I spend all of my time out there," Shepard pointed toward the windows that looked out onto the arms of the Citadel, "fighting tooth and nail against real threats, while you stand around here complaining that someone kicked your sandcastle 20-something years ago."

"Every turian is a soldier," Garrus blurted out, unable to stay silent any longer. "Each and every one of us takes up arms to serve, not just for ourselves, but for the Council as well. Military service begins at 15 for every male and female, whether healthy or otherwise. How can you say you support the military when you don't know what it means to serve?"

Saracino put his hands up defensively, "We all serve in our own way, Commander. I'm not a soldier, but I can tell the public why they should support your efforts."

"It shows a lot of disrespect to ask for military support while protesting a military remembrance day honoring the lives lost during the First Contact War," Shepard responded without hesitation. Garrus' mandibles flared in a grin, though the expression was likely lost on the other human.

"We have a backlog of grievances that aliens have ignored -- starting with Shanxi," Saracino added, aggressively.

"No one else will ever come to humanity's aid if people like you are making the decisions for your species," Garrus took a step forward. His temper flared and if it weren't for Shepard's light touch on his forearm, he might have kept encroaching on that idiot's personal space.

"Excuse me, I don't believe human politics are any of your business," the man spat with disgust, dismissively pointing a finger at Garrus. "Our core value is that Earth must stand firm against alien influences; politically, culturally, and in the worst case, militarily."

"No, excuse **_ME_** ," Shepard stepped in front of Garrus raising her voice. "For every step forward humanity takes, you would pull us two back. Do you remember a time in our history where humans treated other humans this way? Just a few centuries ago it was illegal for two people of different skin colors to get married; illegal for two people of the same sex to get married or even adopt children. There was a time where all of humanity’s borders were divided and nations warred with each other over religion and dominance. We don't have to look too far back in our own history to see how detrimental segregation was. And here you are, hundreds of years later, perpetuating the same ridiculous tropes."

"My apologies," he stammered. "I only meant that no other species has a right to interfere in Alliance politics."

Shepard huffed before shaking her head. "What, are you afraid that humans will start to dye their skin blue to look like the Asari, or get fringe implants to look Turian? Are you so scared that we're going to try and assimilate that you'd rather isolate our entire species from the rest of the galaxy and 'go it alone'," she added as she made a weird gesture with two fingers in the air.

"I can't deny that some of our supporters have extreme views. Whether I disagree with them or not, they have the right to express their opinion. But our platform is also supported by economists, sociologists, and medical professionals."

"That only proves that bigotry is rife within high ranking positions of your human government," Garrus said, looming over Shepard's shoulder.

“We’ve heard that before in human history,” the man kept speaking, seemingly ignoring Garrus and Shepard’s previous comments. “Well-meaning naiveté leads to declarations of peace in our time. We can’t allow anything like Shanxi to happen again. I don’t suppose I could convince you to issue a public statement of support of my candidacy. The support of the first human SPECTRE would be invaluable.”

“Are you serious?” Garrus couldn’t help but question.

He couldn't see it, but he could hear the smile on Shepard's face as she spoke to Saracino. "I agree with my friend here," she gestured over her shoulder to Garrus. "You have every right to your backward and archaic position, Mr. Saracino. And I have every right to tell you to shove it up your ass. I won't support you or the Terra Firma party. There's important work to be done in the galaxy, and it **WILL** require humanity working with the alien races. We either stand united or die alone."

“I understand. I’m glad you support the democratic process at least. Thank you for your time, Commander. Remember Terra Firma on election day, because Terra Firma remembers you!” the dense human finished his asinine statement with a hand gesture like he was holding a gun.

Garrus and Kaidan fell in step behind Shepard as she turned abruptly away from the scene. “He is a fool,” she huffed. “Xenophobic assholes like him are the reason humanity has such a violent past.”


	2. Terra Firma Implications

Garrus couldn't shake what Shepard had said to Saracino. When he was back aboard the Normandy, he began furiously researching human history on the extranet. What he learned was disturbing: slavery, lynching, race wars, genocide, even nuclear wars that started because of religion... Human history was filled with death and violence in the name of ideology. While the turians weren't free of such missteps, racism didn't exist for his people. Classism, sure, but they had never succumbed to such atrocities as slavery.

As for the human governments mandating who you could and couldn't love, that was certainly something Garrus could not wrap his head around. Just about everything turians did was for military advancement, including marriage. But it was not illegal, on Palaven or anywhere else, for a turian to marry someone outside of their species. Asari and quarians were common mates for turians.

“Do you ever get tired of running diagnostics on the Mako?” Shepard startled him from his thoughts. He turned to find her leaning against one of the wheels, arms hanging loosely at her sides. If he didn’t know any better, he’d almost call her relaxed.

He closed his Omni-tool interface before responding. “With the way you drive this thing, I’m surprised there’s even a vehicle left to calibrate.”

She feigned ignorance with a shrug as she stood up straight. “If I didn’t put her through her paces, you’d have nothing to do aboard this ship,” she teased. She smiled at Garrus and turned away, presumably to keep making her rounds.

“Commander,” he called after her. She stopped and made her way back toward him. “Do you have a minute?”

“Sure, Garrus. What’s up?” she asked nonchalantly.

“Before you came over, I was doing some research,” he said as he motioned to his wrist. “I’d been thinking about what that Terra Firma guy said earlier. And what you mentioned about human history.” He paused, suddenly hyper aware that he was stepping into unfamiliar territory. “I’ve had a lot of interaction with humans because of my position in C-Sec, but,” again his nerves got the better of him. Abandoning his original train of thought, instead, he blurted, “…Have any of those things happened to you? What you mentioned to Saracino, I mean.”

She looked down for long enough that Garrus was convinced he’d offended her. “Commander, I’m sorry, it’s none of…”

“No,” she interrupted him with a wave of her hand, finally meeting his gaze again. “I was born on Earth, sure, but I grew up on Mindoir, an outer colony. That far away from the rest of humanity, we had no choice but to do right by each other because we were all we had.”

“Never would have pegged you for a colony kid, Commander.” He knew about her military service record, but nothing about her personal life. He chided himself for never thinking to check.

She moved toward the Mako and kicked a tire with a heavy sigh before continuing, “Sometimes I feel disconnected from humanity because of where I grew up.”

“What do you mean?” he asked, concerned that he’d opened an old wound.

“Before the batarians razed my home, I’d never known anything other than cooperation. We didn’t have to ask each other for help because everyone knew what needed to be done and knew it couldn’t be done alone. It wasn’t until I lost everything – my family, my home, my dignity – that I realized what a terrible place the galaxy could be. I guess that’s the downside to being a naïve colony kid,” she added, looking everywhere else in the cargo hold but at him.

She pushed herself off the Mako and turned to face Garrus. “In the short amount of time I spent on Earth before enlisting,” she continued, “I felt like the Universe tried to teach me all the lessons I missed out on living on the edge of Alliance space. But instead of letting it swallow me whole, I began to embrace the ugly. The more people told me I couldn’t do something, the deeper I delved into it. It was completely stupid, looking back, but I didn’t know what else to do.”

She finally paused and looked at Garrus with a smirk. If he didn’t know any better, he’d say that her cheeks were flushed. “I experimented with drugs, violence, and,” she paused as if trying to find the right words, “…other things,” she finally settled on. “The galaxy can be a terrible place, but it is also beautiful if you open yourself to it. But assholes like Saracino, and other close-minded fools in the Terra Firma party, will never see such wonders. They’ve built a wall around their ideals and believe that racist, separatists notions will save them from the perceived blight of other species. It’s an archaic notion that, if it picks up too much steam, would set humanity on the wrong course – costing us on a much larger scale.”

“Other things?” Garrus asked, unable to hear anything else Shepard had said afterward.

“Really? Of all the things I’ve just said, that’s all you heard?” she crossed her arms over her chest.

He hadn’t meant to say it out loud, but she was right. He’d stopped listening after that and was embarrassed that she’d called him on it. “Sorry, Commander. Figured you for one of those by-the-book Alliance types.”

“One of these days, Vakarian, I’ll tell you about my time training with a Turian squad on Invictus. You know,” she added as she began to walk away, “since you think I’m so vanilla.”

Garrus waited until she’d crossed the cargo bay before he pulled up his Omni-tool to find the meaning of “vanilla.” Food flavoring or sweet scent? He’d never associated any particular scent to Shepard, but he was pretty sure she smelled more like gun oil and tungsten than she did anything resembling something soft and sweet. He kept scrolling and came to another definition – “ordinary, having no special attributes.”

He looked up to find the Commander gesturing wildly as she and Wrex were having a vibrant conversation. Had she gotten the old Krogan to crack a smile? How could he ever think of her as ordinary?

**Author's Note:**

> Have been sitting on this one since mid-2016. Weird to think this minor in-game interaction now feels so much more important some 10 years later.


End file.
